"Divorce of the Century": Billionaire to Pay Ex-Wife $640 Million

A decade-long legal saga that began with the head of SK Hynix admitting to an affair has ended in the largest financial settlement in South Korean history.

The Seoul High Court has put an end to the grand legal battle that South Korea has long dubbed the "divorce of the century." Chey Tae-won, Chairman of AI chipmaking giant SK Hynix, has been ordered to pay his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong 944 billion won (around $644 million), according to the FT.

This amount sets an absolute record for South Korean jurisprudence. Roh Soh-yeong is the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, to whom Chey was married for 34 years.

From $50 Million to Half a Billion: How the AI Boom Drove Up the Payout

The court's current ruling marks a drastic change from the lower court's 2022 verdict, which awarded Roh "just" 66.5 billion won.

The main driver behind this massive jump in compensation was the meteoric rise of tech sector stocks. Since 2017, when Chey officially filed for divorce, SK Hynix’s market capitalization has surged by roughly 2,500%, fueled by the global artificial intelligence boom.

The awarded amount accounts for approximately 12% of Chey Tae-won's total net worth, which Bloomberg estimates at $5.6 billion.

The Tech Giant and the President's Daughter

This saga has held the South Korean public’s attention for years due to the high profile of the parties involved:

• SK Group (which includes SK Hynix) is the second-largest chaebol (conglomerate) in the country.

• Roh Soh-yeong is the daughter of South Korea’s first democratically elected president.

• Chey Tae-won is a key figure in the global tech supply chain. Under his leadership, SK Hynix became the primary supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for Nvidia processors, and Chey himself regularly makes public appearances alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

A Turbulent Journey Through Courts and "Slush Funds"

The public collapse of the 34-year marriage began in 2015 when Chey published a three-page letter in a newspaper confessing to an extramarital affair and having a child out of wedlock. Attempts to reach an out-of-court asset settlement failed, triggering an endless stream of litigation.

The case even reached the Supreme Court. Earlier, the Seoul High Court had awarded Roh a record 1.4 trillion won, taking into account the theory that SK Group's growth was historically aided by a 30 billion won "slush fund" belonging to former President Roh Tae-woo. However, the Supreme Court later ruled that the late president's illegal funds could not be counted as his daughter’s personal contribution to the marital wealth, remanding the case for a retrial.

Will the Billionaire Retain Control of His Empire?

The court awarded Roh one-third of the value of Chey’s shares in holding company SK Inc., but allowed the payment to be made in cash. This enables the tycoon to retain his controlling stake.

Experts agree that the verdict will not undermine Chey’s position at the helm of the conglomerate. To settle the payout, he will most likely sell stakes in non-core assets (such as silicon wafer manufacturer SK Siltron) or take out loans pledged against his shares.

Chey's lawyers stated they "will decide on an appeal after a detailed review of the written ruling," while representatives for Roh Soh-yeong declined to comment.